Kilo Kish is changing what it means to experience live music. Vulnerable and raw, her performance embodies her music which questions her listeners and invites them into conversation. Most recently through her album Reflections in Real Time, Kilo Kish has explored the concept of breaking down—a theme which shines brilliantly through her live performance.
In an interview I had with her in January, she said “It’s fun to play the show as this accountant character, and I just kind of freak out.” Kish offered a sample of this concept in her video Obsessing, but her live show is a much fuller and more intense version of this performance. She began her set by sitting calmly at a desk, reading the paper, and slowly began to sing “Hello, Lakisha,” in which she somewhat robotically introduces herself to the audience. Throughout her show, Kilo Kish became progressively more eccentric and was eventually wildly dancing and thrashing around stage.
Unlike many artists, Kilo Kish does not simply sing her music to the audience with a smile on her face and accompanying choreography. Instead, she stares at the audience blankly, screams at them furiously, or completely “freak[s] out” on stage. Rather than merely present the music to her fans, Kish would “rather just ask a question about the way we live and the way we communicate, and the distance between each other.” If she was asking the audience a question with her performance, Kilo Kish’s supporters and new fans probably had a few for her as well after such a unique, personal, and moving show.
